About

$30,048

pledged of $25,000 goal

116

backers

S. Craig Taylor Jr. and Mort Künstler are two of the preeminent artisans on the American Civil War. Both men have spent their lifetimes creating magnificent vistas into the defining battle - Gettysburg.

Videos

If you want to see more videos about Rally Round the Flag play, check our updates or our YouTube Channel.

Add-Ons

Regimental Order of Battle Book

All the Regiments of the Gettysburg Battle are presented using the Rally Round the Flag format. As a reference that makes it easy to look up units this is a nifty addition. Available for an additional $40 dollars.

Regimental Map

The Map of Gettysburg with or without the regimental game mechanics. Each one is an additional $120 dollars.

Fence & Barricades Standees

The Fence and Barricades are standees that your soldiers can take cover behind. Each set of 20 is an additional $12.95

Rewards

Fan Backers

27" by 40" movie poster

For other backers that want to also get the poster, please increase your pledge by $25.

Division Backers

The Divisional Game of Rally Round the Flag contains standees for each division and markers for the brigades in the division that are deployed to the battle-board. Combat factors can change in scenarios and during the game. These are tracked on coated roster sheets using a dry erase pen. Scenarios cover the First Day, Second Day, Pickett's Charge, Campaign and the "What if" scenarios that are unlocked during the project.

List of Items

17” by 17” Grand Tactical map

Battle-board

64 – coated cards

52 – stands of standees

120 – markers

4 coated roster sheets with arrival times

Turn Track and Victory Point Display

Rulebook

Scenario Book

Relevant Unlocks Reached

not yet funded...

Brigade Backer

The Brigade Game of Rally Round the Flag contains standees for each brigade. Scenarios cover the “Hold at All Cost,” First Day, Second Day, Pickett's Charge, Campaign and the "What if" scenarios that are unlocked during the project.

List of Items

34” by 34” Grand Tactical map

Battle-board

192 – coated cards

196 – stands of standees each with 2 to 5 soldiers, 1 gun and crew, or 1 General

120 – markers

8 coated roster sheets with arrival times

Turn Track and Victory Point Display

Rulebook

Scenario Book

Relevant Unlocks Reached

not yet funded...

Regimental Backers

The Regimental Game of Rally Round the Flag contains standees for each brigade and regiment at Gettysburg. It also includes the full topographical map that is used to zoom into the battle. In addition, the regimental game can be set up and played in detail (playing time is usually 24 to 40 hours at this level – quite fast seeing how you are tracking ammunition, losses fatigue and driving the largest land engagement in the history of North America.) Scenarios cover the “Hold at All Cost,” the Railroad Cut, Culp’s Hill, the Bloody Angle, Peach Orchard, Devil’s Den, First Day, Second Day, Pickett's Charge, Campaign and the "What if" scenarios that are unlocked during the project.

List of Items

34” by 34” Grand Tactical map

Battle-board

144 – 5” by 5” tiles with border Tactical map

2308 – coated cards

1000+ – stands of standees each with 2 to 7 soldiers, 1 gun and crew, or 1 General

300 – arrows and markers

40 coated roster sheets with arrival times, ammunition and strength

Turn Track and Victory Point Display

Rulebook

Scenario Book

Relevant Unlocks Reached

not yet funded...

Stretch Goals

Our project stretch goals are structured to allow your support to improve the extent of the standee variation contained in Rally Round the Flag. Also, at significant points of funding we reach we will add additional Kickstarter exclusive bonus content for Rally Round the Flag.

Art Goals (AG)
Art is always welcome in a project of this scale. Your backing of the Rally Round the Flag project will allow us to add even more Standee illustration. Our goal is to draw individual art for all the generals and many of the command officers (colonels to majors). Also, we would like to illustrate all the artillery variations so we can accurately represent the batteries in the battle. And we want to have variations in uniforms for the soldiers and the banners they fought under.

Design Goals (DG)
Design goals allow us to add special cards and standees into Rally Round the Flag. The design goals will allow us to add scenarios like Stonewall Jackson Lives a “what if” for the command structure of the Army of Northern Virginia being it’s efficient and deadly self.

$30,000 – (AG) ALL Corps Commanders

$40,000 - (AG) ALL Artillery Rifles Added

$50,000 – (DG) What-if Stonewall Jackson Lives

$60,000 - (AG) ALL Divisional Generals Added

$75,000 – (DG) What-if Stuart is Close

$80,000 - (AG) 10 Regimental Infantry Added

$100,000 - (AG) Half the Brigadiers Commanders Added

$125,000 - (AG) Remaining Brigadiers are included

Overview

For the first time a table top board game allows Gettysburg to be played with the ability to zoom into the battles as they are fought. As a player you can play with divisions, brigades or even regiments and move between the different points of view on the battlefield.

Brigade Game Shown Above

The Field of Battle

At Gettysburg both Generals Robert E. Lee and George Meade were pulled into a battle they were both trying to avoid. Lee arrived on the field at noon on the first day and took charge, directing the concentration of the Army of Northern Virginia. But with the death of Stonewall Jackson and the detached operation of J.E.B. Stuart, the Army of Northern Virginia lacked the operational speed and precision that it had shown in prior battles.

Facing Lee was Meade, a capable General Officer of which Lee believed, if he made a mistake Meade would defeat him. The Army of the Potomac was scattered in an arc to shield Washington from attack. Each of its seven Infantry Corps and one Cavalry Corps were moving separately looking for the Army of Northern Virginia and trying to both protect the national capital of Washington DC to the south and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania along with the Susquehanna Valley to the north.

In order to win, Lee needed to pick a battlefield that would allow The Army of Northern Virginia to concentrate onto superior ground faster than the Army of the Potomac or defeat the Army of the Potomac in detail before it concentrated its larger force on the field of battle.

The map used in all the Gettysburg games is derived from an 8 foot by 8.5 foot high resolution map, hand painted for more than a year and then reduced to create the maps for the three various games of Rally Round the Flag. From the highly detailed design we achieved a seamless transition between the various scales of the games. This let's you speed through an epic battle and spend your gaming time on the parts of play that matter to you. And since that can change based on the game you are playing your replay experience will remain rich and enjoyable.

Zooming in to the Regimental Battlefield

Game Play

Rally Round the Flag uses the card system as a way to influence game play rather than control game play. The design uses Combat cards as a way to shift the odds of battle after action is joined. This means an apparently weak defender may have reserves or unexpected tactics that seize initiative or blunts a well-designed attack.

Who is in command is critical in all levels of Rally Round the Flag. The leadership, military skill, heroism and rank all effect play. The Leadership of a General or Officer affects his influence on events – represented by the cards he draws and his ability to get troops to execute his plans when under fire. Both of these factors change the rapidity of an attack and its effectiveness. The Leader’s military skill effects his ability to move his forces and deploy them for combat. And his heroism inspires his troops to endure the fight and press the attack.

The work of fate and chance are, at best, capricious on the field of battle. Turns of weather, a confused order, the sudden arrival of reserves and the effects of supply, change the outcome of battles and sways the course of nations. In Rally Round the Flag both the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac are destined to endure these momentary events.

About the Troops

Rally Round the Flag is played with several types of troops: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery Leaders, and optionally Supply. Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery units have Fire and Troop Quality values on the stand of troops, as well as one of the basic postures for the unit. Also, the Cavalry has replacement stands for mounted and dismounted troops including the Horse Holders.

Laser Cut Soldier and Flag Standees

About the Leaders

Leaders have Command, Leadership and Heroism; all three values are printed on the leader’s base. The shape of the base indicates the level of command held by the Officer. Squares are Brigade commanders and are used when playing with the regimental troops. Circles are the Divisional commanders and are used with the Brigade and Regimental games. Pentagons for Corps along with the Heptagon for the Army commanders are used in all of the games.

Corps Commanders

About the Artillery and Supply

Finally, supply and transport is an important part of the Regimental game play, so we include supply wagons to provide the ammunition and stores needed to keep troops in the fight, and caissons for artillery in trail.

In development - your support means more Standee variations

To win Rally Round the Flag players vie for control of the critical areas of the Gettysburg battlefield road network - represented by the victory points printed on the Grand Tactical Map.
In addition to scoring victory for critical areas of the battlefield that are held, players score victory for shattering enemy brigades. This is done by shattering a brigade during a battle or the brigade failing a troop’s quality check once they have reached a breaking point.

Commanding Generals and other officers provide command points that are used to move and fight the brigades and regiments. Play consists of activating one officer, drawing cards based on his leadership and playing out the actions under his command. After all the actions are used by that officer or passed, play proceeds to the opponent to activate their officer. This continues until all the officers on one side are activated, ending the turn. Even with this system of activation there is no guarantee as to when a turn will end since both card play and events can change the length of the turn.

Movement in Rally Round the Flag uses area movement on the Grand Tactical map, and “movement arrows” tied to the troop’s quality when playing on the Tactical Map during combat resolution. Brigade or regiment movement, requires activation using a command point. Once activated a brigade may move to a new area, or engage in combat in an area they occupy. Regiments can either place a march (red arrow) or advance (black arrow) to move or make a facing or realignment of the line in place. In all cases, a command point is needed to move a unit in any manner.

Combat in Rally Round the Flag allows players to pick the detail for each battle.If a battle is unimportant or a foregone conclusion the resolution of the combat can be completed in less than a minute for a small battle.

When the moment of decision is at hand, the combat can be expanded to cover as much as an hour of play time. By giving you, the players, control of the pace and scope of the gameplay, the epic battle of Gettysburg is playable in the richest of detail and most expeditious resolution.

Rallying broken or shattered regiments and brigades requires either leadership or safety while in command control. Officers can rally broken units in areas where there is an enemy presence by spending a command point and passing a modified troop quality check. The officer's heroism is added to the number needed to pass and other broken units are subtracted from the check. For example, if the legendary Iron Brigade is broken in the face of General Heth’s division on the first day of battle it would need a 9 or less on two six-sided dice in order to rally. If General Reynolds was present in the area he would add a +1 for heroism making the number needed to rally 10 or less on 2 six-sided dice. But if there were 3 other Union brigades also broken and in the same area then the roll needed to rally would be 10 - 3 for a 7 or less on 2 six-sided dice.

Rules

We will preview the rules to the backers after the external play tests are completed. This process allows us to incorporate the testers feedback into the draft set of rules. We will then lay them out and post them in PDF format so the backers can review them before we produce the final rules. We have used this process in our other Kickstarter projects and the results yield a good to superior result where the rules are easy to understand and play is thoroughly explained. In short, we listen to your feedback and act upon it allowing your participation to impact the quality of Rally Round the Flag.

We are continuing the play testing of Rally Round the Flag and will likely have the testers feedback near the end of our campaign.

Learn More

Risks and challenges

We have a risk to the schedule that can be caused by improvements in the product before it is released to manufacturing. Getting right can trump when we ship so schedule slippage may occur in an effort to improve the products included in the rewards.

Because of the prior development completed by Lost Battalion Games on similar products the technical execution risk of this project is low.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $60 or more
About $60

Gallant 100 Level of Divisional - Rally Round the Flag game - is the smallest game offering - includes the small format map (17 inches), 52 standee playing pieces plus markers, and a 64 card deck. Playable in 3 hours for 2 players.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $70 or more
About $70

Divisional - Rally Round the Flag game - is the smallest game offering - includes the small format map (17 inches), 52 standee playing pieces plus markers, and a 64 card deck. Playable in 3 hours for 2 players.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $800 or more
About $800

Commander Level of Regimental - Rally Round the Flag game - is the largest game design - 2308 cards, over 1000 standees, 60 inch map and the Brigade game is also included.
Playable by 2 to 12 players in 24 to 40 hours.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $850 or more
About $850

Lee's Lieutenants Level of Regimental - Rally Round the Flag game - is the largest game design - 2308 cards, over 1000 standees, 60 inch map and the Brigade game is also included.
Playable by 2 to 12 players in 24 to 40 hours.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $860 or more
About $860

Meade's Lieutenants Level of Regimental - Rally Round the Flag game - is the largest game design - 2308 cards, over 1000 standees, 60 inch map and the Brigade game is also included.
Playable by 2 to 12 players in 24 to 40 hours.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $900 or more
About $900

The Corps Level of Regimental - Rally Round the Flag game - is the largest game design - 2308 cards, over 1000 standees, 60 inch map and the Brigade game is also included.
Playable by 2 to 12 players in 24 to 40 hours.